Going from Amateur to Pro in Japan
by Keith Vargo

Times change, and our collective dreams change with them. About 30 or 40 years ago, most martial artists dreamed of traveling to Asia to study a traditional art. It was a time when Westerners were exploring the martial ideals of the Far East and testing their fighting methods. It was a time when people were searching in earnest for a meaningful alternative to pure athletics, something that was as much philosophy as it was fighting.
Today, some people still dream the old dream of going to Asia and immersing themselves in the traditional arts. But there’s a new one, too. In the past 10 years, the mixed martial arts have gone from being a regional tradition in Brazil to an underground phenomenon in the United States to the biggest prime-time fight sport in Japan. That rise has led many martial artists to dream of coming to Asia to fight for money and fame in events like PRIDE or the K-1.
So how does it happen? How do you get a shot at being a fighting star in Japan? The easy answer is that you become a top fighter in your own country first. Indeed, there’s a long list of former Ultimate Fighting Championship veterans who’re now fighting in Japan. But there are other ways to accomplish this besides being a top-10 fighter.
The first way to get into mixed-martial arts fighting in Japan is to join a famous gym. There are a lot of them in major cities like Tokyo, Yokohama and Osaka. When promoters put events together, they contact gyms looking for competitors. If you’re there working hard all the time, you might impress your coaches and get put on a fight card in a small event. Success there could lead to bigger things.
Getting on a fight team is a little more involved. Instead of just paying a monthly fee, training diligently and hoping to get a shot, you can try to become an uchideshi. The term refers to a kind of live-in apprentice fighter. You don’t pay for training. Rather, you sweep floors, clean toilets, do laundry and cook meals for the established fighters. You get more and better training than most up-and-coming fighters, but it’s a hard life. By the time you get in the big shows, you’ve paid your dues in injuries and humiliation.
One odd way to break into MMA in Japan is through pro wrestling. Many Japanese MMA stars are or were pro wrestlers, and there are a number of wrestling promotions here. You may be able to become an uchideshi in a pro wrestling gym, eventually do some studio wrestling and then make a lateral move into MMA. While that’s not the recommended way to get real fights, it is possible.
The strategy I advocate for breaking into the big shows is to fight your way up through the amateur ranks. Shooto and shootboxing have systems for developing amateur talent for their main cards. Pancrase and ZST have amateurs fight on their undercards to give athletes a chance at turning pro. Even PRIDE has held amateur events—including the old Pre-PRIDE tournaments, which were also a kind of reality-TV show, and the current PRIDE Challenge events.
Does anyone who fights in one of these events actually get into the big shows? They do. Some have fought in DEEP and The BEST (PRIDE’s old B-level show). A man named Eiji Mitsuoka has fought in both King of the Cage and Bushido.
One thing I should make clear is that these are just possibilities. Nothing you can do guarantees you’ll become a star in Japan. That kind of success is as much the result of luck and self-promotion as it is skill. You might never get a pro fight. I’ve fought in PRIDE’s amateur events and so have a lot of guys I know. Only a few have gone on to have professional MMA careers. But if you want to take a shot at it, this information can serve as a guide.

About the author: Keith Vargo is a free-lance writer, researcher and martial arts instructor who currently lives in Japan.