Saitama Super Arena, an arena that is indeed super
Saitama, Japan, Not-America, Hello, NOKO!
No one really cared about OSP vs Shogun Rua 2, let’s all be honest and admit that up front. But in the UFC’s continuing efforts under the WMEI 98.7 ownership group to find new ways to make you not care, Shogun is out and in his place is Yushin Okami.
The guy who spent his UFC career at 185 lbs. Who left the company and decided that his future would be better at welterweight – which is 170 lbs. Which is 35 lbs below the light heavyweight limit. Light heavyweight is the weight class for this fight.
Awesome.
Shogun hurt his knee and so he’s out. Okami is in because he’s Japanese, let’s also be honest about that, k? Japan is a very racist country filled with anti-Semites and – oh, you didn’t know that? It’s true. (To say nothing of a number of Japanese leaders outwardly praising Hitler.)
This is what Shogun told the world about his injured knee. He did it via Instagram because that’s how the world rolls nowadays.
Fighting has been my life for over 15 years. It’s what I chose for myself and what I love to do. For me it’s very hard to pull out of a fight, very hard, and accepting that was the only viable alternative wasn’t easy at all. Unfortunately, early in this camp, I hurt my knee. I spent the entire camp doing everything in my power so I could fight on September 23 (22 in Brazil), and I trained the entire time under medicine, protection in my knee, ice and physical therapy. I went beyond my limit because fighting in Japan again is something I’d been dreaming of for a long time, because I didn’t want to let the fans down, and because that’s how I was raised in martial arts by my master.
I’ve stepped up to fight injured multiple times in my career, and it wasn’t for lack of effort or trying. But, unfortunately, all this effort ended up making the injuries worse, and there came a time when my team and I had to accept there were no alternatives, and I had to pull out of the fight. It wasn’t easy. I’d like to apologize to my opponent I’ve been in the same situation, including when we fought the first time, and I knew it’s never easy. And, mainly, apologize to the fans, especially those who were anxiously awaiting this fight. I will take care of my recovery now, heal my injuries and come back stronger. Challenges are put in front of us every day, and what really matters is how we face them. Thank you all for the kindness.
UFC JAPANESE PLACE CARD
- Light Heavyweight
Maurício RuaYushin Okami vs. Ovince Saint Preux - Women’s Strawweight Cláudia Gadelha vs. Jéssica Andrade
- Lightweight Takanori Gomi vs. Dong Hyun Kim
- Light Heavyweight Gökhan Saki vs. Henrique da Silva
- Featherweight Teruto Ishihara vs. Rolando Dy
- Featherweight Mizuto Hirota vs. Charles Rosa
- Welterweight Keita Nakamura vs. Alex Morono
- Flyweight Jussier Formiga vs. Ulka Sasaki
- Women’s Strawweight Syuri Kondo vs. Chan-Mi Jeon
- Welterweight Daichi Abe vs. Hyun Gyu Lim
- Welterweight Shinsho Anzai vs. Luke Jumeau
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