As you probably have seen, the new Sherdog rankings are out. A few of these fighters are fighting in Japan, and some have fights in the near future.
As expected, the Japanese organisations are stronger in the lighter divisions, and there are no Light heavy or Heavy weight fighters fighting in Japan at the moment.
However, when you get to the lower weight classes, almost all are fighting in Japan. I have put their next fights, so make sure you go to support your favorites.
The fighters ranked by Sherdog fighting in Japan are:
Middle weight
Denis Kang (#7)
(Was rumored to have signed up to fight Sakuraba Sept. 17, not sure where his future is now)
Welterweight
Shinya Aoki (#8)
(Shooto champ, no fight set up currently. Free agent)
Lightweight
Takanori Gomi (#1)
(Previous Pride champ, currently free agent. No fights set up)
Tatsuya Kawajiri (#3)
(Shooto wrestler, future uncertain. Rumored to return to the ring Nov. 8 on the Shooto card)
Vitor "Shaolin" Ribeiro (#4)
(Due to fight in HERO's September 17 middleweight tournament. My pick to win this)
Mitsuhiro Ishida (#6)
(Privous Pride fighter, future uncertain. My guess is that he will return to his roots in Shooto)
Gesias "JZ" Calvancanti (Lightweight #8)
(Due to fight in the HERO'S tournament September 17)
Featherweight
Akitoshi Tamura (#1)
(Shooto fighter, no Fights set, but a guess for November 8)
"Lion" Takeshi Inoue (#3)
(Shooto fighter, no fight set. Possible for November 8)
Antonio Carvalho (#4)
(Shooto fighter, requested fight in Back to Our Roots 5 currently not on that card and I am guess in November 8)
Hatsu Hioki (#5)
(Shooto fighter, Confirmed for Shooto Gig Central Vol.13 in Nagoya against a yet to be determined opponent)
Masakazu Imanari (#7)
(Deep champion, due to appear in DEEP Impact 32 October 9 against a yet to be determined opponent)
Yoshiro Maeda (#8)
(Pancrase fighter. No fights set)
Bao Quach (#9)
(Shooto fighter, no fight set)
Tenki Fujimiya (#10)
(Shooto fighter, No fight set)
Bantamweight
Akitoshi Hokazono (#1)
(Shooto Champion who very rarely fights. No fights set)
Marcos Galvao (#2)
(Shooto fighter, no fights set)
Koetsu Okazaki (#3)
(Shooto Fighter, no fights set)
Kenji Osawa (#4)
(Shooto fighter, due to fight Daniel Lima September 22)
Atsushi Yamamoto (#5)
(Shooto fighter, Due to fight September 22 against Tetsu Suzuki)
Ryota Matsune (#6)
(Shooto fighter, currently injured)
Takeya Mizugaki (#7)
(Shooto fighter, no fight set)
Masakatsu Ueda (#10)
(Shooto fighter, no fight set)
Flyweight
Shinichi "BJ" Kojima (#1)
(Shooto Champion, next fight not set)
Mamoru Yamaguchi (#2)
(Shooto fighter, Next fight September 22 against Yasuhiro Urushitani)
Yasuhiro Urushitani (#3)
(Shooto fighter, Next fight September 22 against Mamoru Yamaguchi)
Masaaki Sugiwara (#4)
(Shooto fighter, no fight set)
Yusei Shimokawa (#5)
(Shooto fighter, no fight set)
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