Hidetaka Monma

Originally from the Wajutsu Keishukai Network of fighters, which have included Caol Uno, Daiju Takase (see his win over Anderson Silva here), Yushin Okami, amongst others, Monma explains how he got into MMA later than most.

I always liked and followed pro wrestling and K-1. The fighters were always big and I used to be quite small so I never thought I would be able to do it. I did baseball until high school and wanted to be a professional player, but in high school I was unable to become a regular player which meant I was unable pursue my dream. So, from graduating from high school until the age of 25 all I did was go out with friends and enjoy myself.

Around this time Monma was introduced to Vale Tudo Japan and saw fighters like Ensen Inoue, Hayato “Mach” Sakurai and Rumina Sato competing for the first time.

The first thing that struck me was that there were fighters of all sizes and weight classes and when I saw them walk out to their fights I thought it was the coolest thing; I wanted to do that! That was the first time I thought about doing MMA.

But Monma had reached the age of 25 with a background in only baseball, no martial arts experience. He started off practicing once or twice a week as a hobby and tried an amateur fight after the first few months.

I lost very quickly and this got me down. I fought again the following month and again lost very quickly. So I thought about quitting MMA there and then, but I went home and thought about it. I’d found MMA and was really enjoying it so I decided to start training 6 or 7 days a week. I then won a few amateur fights and was offered a professional match in RINGS.

This is where Monma’s life as a professional fighter started. The attraction of the music, the entrance, the crowd cheering was strong.

Brightness Monma Dojo in Adachi Ward, Tokyo

Monma goes on to explain the ethos of his dojo.

The first gym I entered was quite scary at first and I thought about going home! The image of MMA in general was quite scary but when I actually went in the atmosphere was bright and cheerful. I met Akira Shoji who was teaching there and he had such a warm personality. He created an atmosphere which I feel is very important and I try to do the same for all new members coming here to Brightness. Of course training can be tough and it shows on your face but together we can overcome that and enjoy training, and for some fighting, together.

Shadow boxing at the kickboxing class

And finally, a message for any non-Japanese who are considering training at Brightness Monma Dojo!

I don’t speak much English but we have two guys from America training here at the moment and we get along great. I think if we all try our best to communicate in English and Japanese we can improve and become stronger in many ways. Basically I want any new members to come and have fun and enjoy training together, regardless of language differences.

Monma san, thank you very much for the training and the interview!

Hidetaka Monma executes an arm bar

Leben took the fight at short notice, Akiyama’s original opponent, Wanderlei Silva, having pulled out unable to fight.

Akiyama displayed superior takedown and grappling skills early in the fight, but had serious trouble knocking out Leben who seems to have a jaw made of steel! Akiyama himself took some quite hard strikes and did not go down but it was clear that his stamina was not what it should’ve been as he entered the second round looking the worse for ware.

Although Akiyama was caught in a triangle choke in the second round and tapped out, the fight was a battle the fans thoroughly enjoyed. See it here.

So, the question is where does Akiyama go from here? One interesting match up was posted on Sherdog.com.

Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Kendall Grove

In all honesty, the first thing Akiyama should fight is a treadmill — preferably for a few months, given the dreadful conditioning that has dogged his UFC run.

After he learns how to keep his blood oxygenated for three rounds, he then needs to prove that he deserves to be in the Octagon. It’s no secret that the UFC would love for Akiyama to lead their charge into the potentially lucrative Asian market, but they can’t bank on him to do that at this point in time.

That’s where Grove comes in — a skilled and rugged gatekeeper with just enough flaws to keep him from being a total mismatch for Akiyama. Putting their Asian golden goose at risk yet again may be a bitter pill to swallow for the UFC, but rebuilding the Asian MMA market comes with a razor-thin margin for error that Akiyama needs to prove he can handle.

Certainly, Akiyama’s stamina is in question. We at MMA-in-Japan.com hope that he comes back to the UFC to not only show his skills, but show that he can fight hard at top level for all three rounds!

I joined the grappling class from 8 to 9pm and then sparring from 9 to 10pm. His teaching style is very clear and he spent time going round the students individually helping them with the techniques. We worked on a sweep and then to submissions from mount and side positions.

His gym, opened in October 2009 is new, clean and bright: very conducive to learning!

Monma’s blog has already been updated with a post-training photo with myself and young American, Joe LaChance, who tells me he found out about Monma’s dojo through MMA-in-Japan.com!

Monma-san, thank you for the great training! I’ll be back!

And look out for a video and interview of Hidetaka Monma coming soon here.

The warm up leg work looked like this:

• 5X50-metre thrust jumps, focus on pumping the knee up for height on each jump
• 5X50-metre bounds, focus on length/distance on each bound
• 4X50-metre scissor steps (2X facing into the field, 2X facing out of the track)
• 4X 50-metre side steps (2 one way, and 3 the other as above)
• 4X 50-metre backward sprints

The main speed work was 4 sets of alternating 5X50-metre sprints followed by 50-metre jogs, no rest. 1 minute break between each set.

This workout was finished off in the gym with 5 sets of 10 pullups on a barbell with legs together, out straight and on a Swiss ball. The focus on each pull up is exploding up, the chest towards the bar, and letting the body down very slowly.

On the Swiss ball this also works some core muscles, so I followed this up with some more core work to finish (video to come).

At some point later in the evening, instead of stretching, I worked on the foam roller, focussing on the main leg muscle groups.

• 2X3-minute rounds shadow boxing with some knees and elbows
• 2X5minute sounds of focus pads, concentrating on speed and footwork, light
• 2X5minute sparring (50~75%, without headgear)
• 2X5-minute focus pads, concentrating on out-fighting and in-fighting at grappling range + takedown defence
• 2X10 reps from the gaurd to stand position followed by a knee + jab cross
• 2X10 reps of jab cross then burpee jump
• 2.5 mins of gound+pound from standing in the guard and passed guard (knee on the belly + hammerfist)

Normally, to finish we do some core, pushups/hindu pushups, and plyometrics but there was no time today.

A very big thanks to Kanpei Endo of Watanabe Boxing Gym in Gotanda for his excellent advice, training and pad holding!

• 3 rounds of rope
• 2 rounds shadow kickboxing
• 1 round sandbag
• into the ring for 5 rounds of thaipads
• 8 rounds of heavybag
• strength and & conditioning; core work, pushups/hindu pushups in the same set as 35kg arm-curls (EZ bar)
• 1 round of shadow

Of course there was some stretching in there but I’d rather have used a foam roller.

Also, the lack of heavyweights, or even light heavyweights there (one arrived as I was leaving) makes sparring impossible.

In an unusual match up between sempai and kohai, the fight went to a judge decision and Kazuhiro ‘Kazu’ Nakamura won due to his dominating and controlling performance.

A very surprising outcome that day saw Ryo Chonan lose by knockout to Korean, Jung Hwan Cha in the second round. MMA-in-Japan.com hopes to interview Chonan in an exclusive very soon.

Ensen Inoue gave his fans what they wanted, arm barring Antz Nansen, a kickboxer he once cornered.

MMA-in-Japan is watching Michihiro Omigawa’s career closely!

A quick breakdown below.

Astra – Yoshida’s Farewell Results

Both have fought and cornered each other in Pride FC so win or lose it will be an emotional event to mark Yoshida’s retire.

MMA-in-Japan was present at a recent training session at Alliance Square, where both Yoshida and Nakamura have trained with Tsuyoshi Kosaka (TK) over the years. Yoshida was open about, and clearly suffering from a cold virus, but he trained nonetheless with still time to recover before the event on Sunday the 25th.

Ensen Inoue will make a comeback appearance at the event, long awaited by many of his fans.