The need for regulation in Japanese MMA

But now I'm in too deep
It's got me so that I just can't sleep
Get me out of here, please get me out of here
Just help me I'll do anything, anything if you'll just help me get out of here.
--Tonight, Tonight by Phil Collins

It was apparent from the outset that Ian Murphy was out of his element as he prepared to fight Ronaldo Jacare at the DREAM.2 middleweight GP opening round. The choice of Phil Collins’ “Susudioâ€� as his walk-in music suggests that he hadn’t even seen many MMA events in order to know that such a benign song was severely out of place. If Murphy was to use a Phil Collins song a better choice would have been “Tonight, Tonightâ€� with the lyrics above. 

Ian Murphy was most definitely “in too deepâ€� and the fact he was allowed to fight at DREAM.2 underscores the profound lack of regulation and oversight of Japanese mixed martial arts. There really is no regulatory oversight of the sport or the actions of individual promoters. The fight culture rooted in sumo and continued in pro wrestling and mixed martial arts is extremely backwards. Fight promoters first, second and third priorities are making money. With the exception of the top stars, fighters are largely viewed as interchangeable and expendable. Mandatory drug testing is completely nonexistent and there’s little elective testing by the individual promotions. Even the simplest steps to protect the fighters’ well being are unenforced or non-existent. 

A matchup between Ian Murphy and Ronaldo Jacare would have almost certainly been refused sanctioning in the United States. Murphy, a very young 22, was a standout collegiate wrestler who as of a couple of months ago was completing his senior season at Cal State Fullerton. Despite this impressive background, he’d been training seriously in mixed martial arts for just over a month. He’d never had an amateur MMA fight, and the fight against Jacare was his professional debut. Murphy certainly has an athletic background that would suggest potential as a mixed martial artist but at this time he’s almost a complete novice.

His opponent at DREAM.2, Ronaldo “Jacareâ€� Souza most decidedly was not. â€œJacareâ€� began training in judo at age 14 and later changed his focus to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Now 27, Jacare is a BJJ black belt and has been called “one of the most feared submission grapplers in the worldâ€�.  That was evidenced in 2006 when Jacare fought former UFC heavyweight champ Randy Couture to a draw in a submission wrestling event. Jacare would have been a tough matchup for even his original opponent, tough veteran Frank Trigg. When Trigg pulled out less than a week before the fight DREAM parent company FEG approached Murphy who readily agreed.

The fight itself was essentially over before it began. Murphy was visibly nervous to the point of near panic as he made his ring walk. He could be seen “taking a few deep breathsâ€� to steady his nerves. While any fighter would have felt a few “butterfliesâ€� walking into Saitama Super Arena for the first time, Murphy’s apparent apprehension transcended this. This underscored the reality that he hadn’t any real experience or knowledge competing or even training in a mixed martial arts environment. That training would have taken him to a point where he could at least sublimate the problematic emotional cocktail of fear, excitement, nervousness, uncertainty and confusion. Murphy’s amateur wrestling pedigree aside, DREAM might as well have picked someone out of the audience as they would have had a greater familiarity with MMA.

From the start of the match it was all Jacare. Murphy tried to use the only real weapon at his disposal and shot in attempting to take down his opponent. He partially succeeded, but more likely Jacare allowed himself to be “taken downâ€�. From this point on, Murphy was in Jacare’s world where he received an emphatic crash course in submission ground fighting. Murphy didn’t have any idea how to counter Jacare’s submissions and only his toughness and physical conditioning kept the fight going as long as it did. Murphy’s cornermen were equally as lost based on the instructions they shouted to their fighter some of which would have been disastrous if they had been heeded. The end came when Jacare gave up on a Kimura attempt that Murphy was defending with sheer strength alone and transitioned into a rear naked choke. With no significant experience or knowledge about how to defend chokes, he had no choice to tap.

Ronaldo Jacare is the one player in this story that can be held blameless. He did what a fighter is supposed to do, which is to try to defeat his opponent to the best of his ability. Virtually everyone else involved in the fight bears some measure of culpability. FEG should never have booked Murphy to fight, Murphy’s handlers should have never accepted knowing their fighter’s almost non-existent MMA training and the official in the ring for not stopping the fight much sooner. At least this tale of indifference and ineptitude has a somewhat happy ending as Murphy emerged unscathed, with the exception of having suffered a beating. Still, the potential for disaster and tragedy by involving a completely inexperienced fighter in the event is significant as is the collateral damage such an occurrence would have on MMA worldwide.

Any legitimate oversight body would have stepped in to do what everyone else involved was too greedy, indifferent or ignorant to do by refusing to sanction this fight. Unfortunately, there isn’t any significant oversight at all and none focused on the well being of the participants. In the United States, the sport is regulated in much the same way as boxing. In Japan, the sport that grew out of professional wrestling is regulated in essentially the same way. That is to say like pro wrestling its largely “anything goesâ€� in terms of rules, safety and other issues concerning fighter well being.

Change comes slowly in Japanese culture and in political matters slower still. The two organizations that oversee Japanese boxing (the Japanese Boxing Association and the Japanese Professional Boxing Association) have historically done little and have existed more as money making ventures than regulatory agencies. It’s taken some high profile in ring deaths in recent years to even generate talk of reform. Despite some nominal show of concern by government officials little has been done and the JBA and JPBA are more concerned about their “turf warâ€� as sanctioning bodies than they are doing anything to protect fighters who box in Japan. The promotion behind World Victory Road has done what they can to rectify the situation with regard to MMA by creating a Japan Mixed Martial Arts Commission to serve as the oversight authority for the sport. Unfortunately, without some government involvement its unlikely they can have much of an impact just as the supposed current group in charge of rules in Japanese MMA, the International Shooto Commission, has been rendered largely impotent.

The sad reality is that with the glacial pace of progressive reform within Japanese political culture any government involvement is unlikely. Even if a death were to occur the lack of progress in boxing regulation when faced with a similar scenario doesn’t provide much hope for improved safety rules for MMA fighters. While WVR is trying with their MMA oversight commission the only hope for real change in the near term is for promoters to realize that protecting their fighters is in the best interest of the sport which, in turn, is good for the bottom line.